Decision on dissolution

Voters to choose whether G-R school district endures or dissolves on Sept. 12

ADAM SODDERS

Staff Writer

asodders@timesrepublican.com

CONTRIBUTED ARTWORK
On Sept. 12, voters in the Gladbrook-Reinbeck Community School District will decide whether the district will dissolve or stay as it is. A “no” vote means a person does not want the district to dissolve, while a “yes” vote means that voter wants the dissolution to happen.
If the district dissolves, its territory, students, assets and liabilities will be divided among the surrounding districts of Dike-New Hartford, Hudson, North Tama, Green Mountain-Garwin and Grundy Center.

REINBECK — While many Central Iowans will be deciding who to vote for in school board elections on Sept. 12, voters in the Gladbrook-Reinbeck Community School District will have a different choice: whether the district will remain or dissolve.

“Voters will be asked to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on a public measure known as Public Measure C,” said G-R Superintendent David Hill. “The public measure asks the question: ‘Shall the Gladbrook-Reinbeck Community School District be dissolved as described in the dissolution proposal?'”

That proposal would see the current district dissolved, with the surrounding districts of Dike-New Hartford, Hudson, North Tama, Grundy Center and Green Mountain-Garwin dividing up its territory, students, assets and liabilities.

Voters will be able to vote either “yes” to dissolve the district or “no” to keep the district as is.

“A ‘no’ vote means, ‘No, don’t dissolve the district,'” Hill said. “If the ‘yes’ votes receive the majority, the district will cease to exist on July 1, 2018, and all of the district’s territory, students, assets, and liabilities will be divided among five neighboring districts.'”

He added the ballot includes a map of how the current G-R territory would be divided among neighboring districts if the dissolution goes through.

“Because a ‘positive’ vote would lead to what many consider to be a ‘negative’ outcome, this vote certainly does have the potential to confuse voters,” Hill said. “That’s why the district has made a strong effort to educate voters and to make sure the ballot is as clear as possible.”

While he said some have compared the dissolution to a “divorce,” Hill said that isn’t a good comparison.

“I truly don’t feel that is an accurate representation because in a divorce, both parties continue as separate entities on their own.” he said. “A ‘yes’ vote in this election means you’re voting to end the Gladbrook-Reinbeck School District … our students would be divided based on where they live and would become GMG Wolverines, Grundy Center Spartans, Dike-New Hartford Wolverines, Hudson Pirates, or North Tama Redhawks.”

The communities are readying for the upcoming election.

“Polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.,” Hill said. “We have discussed the large expected turnout with election officials, and they are making arrangements to have a sufficient number of poll workers on election day.”

He added that a large number of absentee ballot requests have been received, and on Aug. 11 ballots started to be sent out.

The polling places for this election are the Reinbeck Memorial Building at 208 Broad St. in Reinbeck, the Lincoln Amvet Hall at 101 E. Main St. in Lincoln and the Gladbrook Memorial Building at 421 Johnston St. in Gladbrook.

“The Gladbrook-Reinbeck School Board has expressed its opinion on the matter by passing a resolution pursuant to Iowa law, stating it is unanimously opposed to dissolution,” Hill said, adding the full resolution is available online at http://tinyurl.com/DissolutionResolution.

For more information on the Sept. 12 election, call the Tama County Auditor’s Office at (641) 484-2740